Council Regulation (EU) 2018/120 of 23 January 2018 fixing for 2018 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/127

COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2018/120

of 23 January 2018

fixing for 2018 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/127

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

(a) catch limits for the year 2018 and, where specified in this Regulation, for the year 2019;

(b) fishing effort limits for the period from 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019, except where other periods are established for effort limits in Articles 26, 27 and 39, and in Annex IIE, as well as regarding fish-aggregating devices (FADs);

(c) fishing opportunities for the period from 1 December 2017 to 30 November 2018 for certain stocks in the CCAMLR Convention Area;

(d) fishing opportunities for certain stocks in the IATTC Convention Area set out in Article 28 for the periods in 2018 and 2019 specified in that Article.

Article 2

Scope

(a) Union fishing vessels;

(b) third-country vessels in Union waters.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 apply. In addition, the following definitions apply:

(a) ‘third-country vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of, and registered in, a third country;

(b) ‘recreational fisheries’ means non-commercial fishing activities exploiting marine biological resources such as for recreation, tourism or sport;

(c) ‘international waters’ means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State;

(d) ‘total allowable catch’ (TAC) means: (i) in fisheries subject to the landing obligation referred to in Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the quantity of fish that can be caught from each stock each year; (ii) in all other fisheries, the quantity of fish that can be landed from each stock each year;

(e) ‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union, a Member State or a third country;

(f) ‘analytical assessments’ means quantitative evaluations of trends in a given stock, based on data about the stock's biology and exploitation, which scientific review has indicated to be of sufficient quality to provide scientific advice on options for future catches;

(g) ‘mesh size’ means the mesh size of fishing nets as determined in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 517/2008 (¹);

(h) ‘Union fishing fleet register’ means the register set up by the Commission in accordance with Article 24(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(i) ‘fishing logbook’ means the logbook referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

Article 4

Fishing zones

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following zone definitions apply:

(a) ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) zones are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 218/2009 (²);

(b) ‘Skagerrak’ means the geographical area bounded on the west by a line drawn from the Hanstholm lighthouse to the Lindesnes lighthouse and on the south by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from that point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast;

(c) ‘Kattegat’ means the geographical area bounded on the north by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from that point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast and on the south by a line drawn from Hasenøre to Gnibens Spids, from Korshage to Spodsbjerg and from Gilbjerg Hoved to Kullen;

(d) ‘Functional Unit 16 of ICES subarea 7’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: — 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W, — 53° 30′ N 11° 00′ W, — 51° 30′ N 11° 00′ W, — 51° 30′ N 13° 00′ W, — 51° 00′ N 13° 00′ W, — 51° 00′ N 15° 00′ W, — 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W;

(e) ‘Functional Unit 26 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: — 43° 00′ N 8° 00′ W, — 43° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

(f) ‘Functional Unit 27 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: — 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 38° 30′ N 10° 00′ W, — 38° 30′ N 9° 00′ W, — 40° 00′ N 9° 00′ W, — 40° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

(g) ‘Functional Unit 30 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area under the jurisdiction of Spain in the Gulf of Cádiz and in the adjacent waters of 9a;

(h) ‘Gulf of Cádiz’ means the geographical area of ICES division 9a east of longitude 7° 23′ 48″ W;

(i) CECAF (Committee for Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³);

(j) NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 217/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁴);

(k) ‘SEAFO (South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean (⁵);

(l) ‘ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (⁶);

(m) ‘CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in point (a) of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 601/2004 (⁷);

(n) ‘IATTC (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica (⁸);

(o) ‘IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) Area of Competence’ is the geographical area defined in the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (⁹);

(p) ‘SPRFMO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean (¹⁰);

(q) ‘WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (¹¹);

(r) ‘GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) geographical subareas’ are the areas defined in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹²).

(s) ‘high seas of the Bering Sea’ is the geographical area of the high seas of the Bering Sea beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the coastal States of the Bering Sea is measured;

(t) ‘overlap area between IATTC and WCPFC’ is the geographical area defined by the following limits: — longitude 150° W, — longitude 130° W, — latitude 4° S, — latitude 50° S.

TITLE II

FISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNION FISHING VESSELS

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 5

TACs and allocations

Article 6

TACs to be determined by Member States

(a) be consistent with the principles and rules of the CFP, in particular the principle of sustainable exploitation of the stock; and

(b) result: (i) if analytical assessments are available, in the exploitation of the stock consistent with maximum sustainable yield from 2018 onwards, with as high a probability as possible; or (ii) if analytical assessments are unavailable or incomplete, in the exploitation of the stock consistent with the precautionary approach to fisheries management.

(a) the TACs adopted;

(b) the data collected and assessed by the Member State concerned on which the TACs adopted are based;

(c) details on how the TACs adopted comply with paragraph 2.

Article 7

Conditions for landing catches and by-catches

(a) have been taken by vessels flying the flag of a Member State having a quota and that quota has not been exhausted; or

(b) consist of a share in a Union quota which has not been allocated by quota among Member States, and that Union quota has not been exhausted.

Article 8

Fishing effort limits

For the periods referred to in Article 1(2)(b), the following fishing effort measures shall apply:

(a) Annex IIA for the management of plaice and sole stocks in ICES subarea 4;

(b) Annex IIB for the recovery of hake and Norway lobster in ICES divisions 8c and 9a, with the exception of the Gulf of Cádiz;

(c) Annex IIC for the management of the sole stock in ICES division 7e.

Article 9

Measures on European seabass fisheries

(a) using demersal trawls (¹⁴), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 100 kilogrammes per month and 1 % of the weight of the total catches of marine organisms on board caught by that vessel in any single day;

(b) using seines (¹⁵), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 180 kilogrammes per month and 1 % of the weight of the total catches of marine organisms on board caught by that vessel in any single day;

(c) using hooks and lines (¹⁶), not exceeding 5 tonnes per vessel per year;

(d) using fixed gillnets (¹⁷), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 1,2 tonnes per vessel per year.

The derogations set out in the first subparagraph shall apply to Union fishing vessels that have recorded catches of European seabass over the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 September 2016: in point (c) with recorded catches using hooks and lines, and in point (d) with recorded catches using fixed gillnets. In the case of a replacement of a Union fishing vessel, Member States may allow the derogation to apply to another fishing vessel provided that the number of Union fishing vessels subject to the derogation and their overall fishing capacity do not increase.

Member States shall report to the Commission all catches of European seabass per type of gear not later than 15 days after the end of each month.

(a) from 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2018, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 7a to 7k, only catch-and-release fishing for European seabass shall be allowed. During that period, it shall be prohibited to retain on board, relocate, tranship or land European seabass caught in that area;

(b) from 1 October to 31 December 2018, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 6a, 7a to 7k, not more than one specimen of European seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.

Article 10

Measures on European eel fisheries

It shall be prohibited for Union fishing vessels and third country vessels, as well as for any commercial fisheries from shore, to fish for European eel of an overall length of 12 cm or longer in Union waters of ICES area, including in the Baltic Sea, for a consecutive three-month period to be determined by each Member State between 1 September 2018 and 31 January 2019. Member States shall communicate the determined period to the Commission not later than 1 June 2018.

Article 11

Special provisions on allocations of fishing opportunities

(a) exchanges made pursuant to Article 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(b) deductions and reallocations made pursuant to Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(c) reallocations made pursuant to Article 10(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008;

(d) additional landings allowed under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 and Article 15(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(e) quantities withheld in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 and Article 15(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(f) deductions made pursuant to Articles 105, 106 and 107 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(g) quota transfers and exchanges pursuant to Article 15 of this Regulation.

Article 12

Closed fishing seasons